CoWare SPW Boosts Signal Processing Prototyping for Advanced Wireless Systems

New CoWare SPW 2010.1 Release Combines LTE Libraries with Advanced Xilinx Implementation Flow

SAN JOSE, California/USA – February 22, 2010 – CoWare®, Inc., the leading supplier of Electronic System Virtualization™ (ESV) software and services, is rolling out a new release of its CoWare SPW products. The new SPW 2010.1 release advances the LTE (Long Term Evolution) Wireless Reference Library and adds a complete Xilinx ®implementation flow that includes direct source translation technology from C Data Flow (CDF) into RTL.

The LTE reference library implements reference system simulation models that allow validation and exploration of many different use cases. They span areas that are critical for network operators, handset manufacturers, transceiver and modem semiconductor companies as well as basestation manufacturers. The current release adds support for the physical random access channel which can generate any preamble at any allowable cyclic shift, calculate the probabilities of detection and miss detection or false alarm in the receiver. It also supports modeling multiple users, which is critical for basestation manufacturers. Models for uplink and downlink control channels allow simulation of all of the encoding and decoding for broadcast, control format indicator, and hybrid ARQ indicator. Through the flexibility of the CoWare SPW CDF infrastructure, customers are already prepared for the exploration of LTE-Advanced, as well. Together with the legacy libraries for 2G and 3G, CoWare SPW also enables overall system integration.

The new Xilinx flow combines 10+ years of successful SPW hardware implementation technology for RTL generation with Xilinx’s highly-optimized IP components from its ISE flow into one, easy-to-use flow. SPW 2010.1 also, for the first time, offers direct source translation technology which takes CDF models and translates them to RTL. Using the polymorphism in SPW, this technology allows the user to have floating-point, fixed-point and bit-true cycle-accurate blocks in C++ and synthesizable Verilog/VHDL from a single CDF model, thereby reducing development and verification time dramatically.

“The implementation of digital signal processing is greatly simplified when you use the right model of computation,” said Professor Edward Lee, University of California, Berkeley. “Some of the modeling technologies from our Ptolemy project have been previously incorporated into the SPW simulation technology. From my vantage point, CoWare has the right modeling foundation to expand into software implementation, as well.”

“In my recent book on ESL, ESL Models and their Application, I wrote about data flow modeling as an important model of computation in many modern systems,” said Grant Martin, chief scientist at Tensilica. “I am glad to see that CoWare continues to evolve its technology to serve the needs of designers who are specifying and implementing digital signal processing.”

 “Our newest release of SPW continues to build on the strength of our proven C Data Flow modeling and simulation technology,” said Johannes Stahl, vice president and general manager of the DSP Solutions Group at CoWare. “We continue to execute on our strong technology roadmap that delivers critical technology for our strategic customers.”

Availability

The CoWare SPW 2010.1 release is available immediately. With this release, CoWare has reverted back to the product’s original SPW name (previously Signal Processing Designer, SPD).

About CoWare

CoWare is the leading global supplier of electronic system virtualization software and services. IP, semiconductor, and electronics companies use CoWare virtualization solutions to design better processor- and software-intensive products faster. CoWare solutions solve the new design challenges associated with platform architecture design, platform verification, application sub-system design, processor design, DSP algorithm design, and software development, and are based on open industry standards including SystemC. These solutions also enable IP and semiconductor companies to implement more effective go-to-market strategies. CoWare is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and has offices around the world. For more information about CoWare and its products and services visit http://www.coware.com.